Desolation
by ZombieXoX
Summary: Soundwave's descent into madness in the Shadowzone. Very Dark fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, firstly I'd like to say this is a pretty dark fic, so if you're squeamish I really wouldn't bother. **

**Secondly; Spoilers of TFP's Deadlock ahead. **

Observing came naturally to him and solitude was usually preferable but having the choice to disengage from either of these statuses was imperative. Although he kept his social interactions to a bare minimum they were necessary to him. No creature could survive in complete solitude - in his present predicament, Soundwave understood the concept better than most.

He got a thrill from not being seen when standing in the shadows of a room with others, learning all their secrets. Having the ability to announce himself increased the satisfaction of the scenario. It also gave him leverage aboard the Nemesis and acted as a deterrent for disobedience. The crew had began assuming he was lurking close by even when he wasn't and that kind of paranoia kept everyone in check.

Because if Soundwave knew your dirty little secrets so did Megatron and that led to consequences that made taking risks utterly stupid.

But now the Nemesis lacked its two guiding hands. Its master was absent and its eyes and ears were powerless and the fear with which Megatron ruled and Soundwave enforced was dissolving.

It was sickening.

So much hard work was coming undone. It frustrated Soundwave.

Knock Out added to that frustration.

The Autobot's didn't have the patience for him, they allowed the medic to roam the ship unsupervised while the focused on grander operation. Soundwave stalked him, watched the narcissistic mech horde supplies. Essentially, he stealing from the Autobots. He stashed whatever he laid his servos on: weapons, medical tools, solvents, excessive quantities of energon...

Knock Out's greed was unbound and Soundwave could just watch - a small corner of his processor assigned to regulating body functions flickered into life at the sight of energon: a reminder of his needs. For now, Soundwave ignored it and continued watching Knock Out commit acts he wouldn't have dared while in service to Megatron.

Soundwave stood behind Knock Out as he scurried around transferring whatever he fancied into his collection. He was being needlessly excessive, by the time he was ready to leave the cargo bay Knock Out had more than he could carry. Soundwave stood aside when Knock Out pushed his mountain of junk toward the hanger doors. He didn't want the beastly little mech to pass through him. The idea was unclean to him.

* * *

Cybertron was vast and glowing, reborn and full of promise. The Autobot's left the Nemesis that morning to continue their exploration and Soundwave did the same.

Cybertron's sun was bright. He'd been dwelling in dark bowels of the Nemesis for days, pondering tools and how they could be manipulated to spring him free of his prison but had no success. When he stepped outside adjusting was difficult, too much light filtered through his optics, it stung and took longer than average to regulate the intake.

When he adjusted he watched the shrinking plumes of dust unsettled by the Autobot convoy as they speeded off into the distance toward immense cities of rubble. Everything was dust. Life might have been breathed back into their planet's core but the crust was as derelict as it had been when they'd abandoned it.

Nevertheless, Soundwave expected to find his solution somewhere in the vastness of his home world.

He dispatched Laserbeak and prepped the small transformer with instructions. It chirred and fluttered into the bleak sky. Soundwave transformed explored the opposite direction.

They learned as they travelled that the Shadowzone interfered with communications, as such Soundwave instructed Laserbeak to be back at Nemesis before night fall. He would wait outside until the little drone returned.

In the first day Soundwave discovered that exploring Cybertron in his alt-mode was a startling drain on his energy reserves. He'd since been conducting all his exploration on foot. It was a long, arduous process. Inefficient. After days of toiling through wasteland and crumbling cities he began to understand what it was like to ache. He'd never been a creature designed for labour. His work was strictly confined to indoor spaces. Exertion was...foreign to him, even on the battle field he only made a few, well-calculated moves.

On the fifth day he arrived at the rendezvous later than Laserbeak. Grit had entrenched itself in every gear, he moved with a horrible grinding motion but had no salve to lessen the irritation.

When Laserbeak saw him appear on the horizon it spun up into the air with programable excitement and made to rush out and greet him. Soundwave send a sharp command to needed to conserve energy.

So the drone waited impatiently, chittering and fidgeting on the ground until Soundwave loomed above it.

The drone leapt onto its creator's chassis and reattached. Waves of relief and comfort pushed through their bond. Laserbeak lacked the mental capacity to interpret higher cognitive function, it just operated on basic feelings and primal instinct, likening the drone to organic bird.

Soundwave absently soothed his symbiote as they wandered back to the Nemesis. His gaze mapping the distant uncharted territories. There was so much of it and there was only two of them, the task ahead of them was enormous.

Laserbeak suddenly started to rattle against his chest and Soundwave realised some of his misgivings had been eking through their bond. He paused and laid his spindly hand over the drone. Panicking did neither of them any good. He'd have to remain calm for the sake of his responsibility.

* * *

The days yielded nothing. The nights even less. The Autobot's favoured their new land base over the Nemesis' forbidding decor. They'd powered down the ship and deserted it. Empty corridors, empty cargo bays. Crew was gone; the Decepticons were gone.

Almost.

Soundwave lingered and leeched off the what little comfort familiarity could offer him.

It got very dark at night.

Laserbeak found it frightening. Soundwave was beginning to develop an adversity to it was well. Everything was too quiet. Quiet like he'd been. Now, sometimes, to keep them both alert he'd purposely made noise. Just to remind himself and Laserbeak that they still, on some level, existed and weren't just ghosts...even if that's how they lived.

They'd find a solution, soon, both of them - because they were smart. This set back was only temporary: saying so had started out as for Laserbeak's benefit, now Soundwave fastened onto his own words.

One night, they nestled in Megatron's throne on the control deck. It was lightest here. The high back of the throne cocooned them and they could stare out of the windshield that wrapped round the room. Luna 2 lit up the skeleton cities in pale white light. Laserbeak liked to mesmerize itself with the glittering details. Soundwave disengaged him from his body and let the drone settle in his lap. The vibrations of his ventilations were calming.

Tonight, Soundwave's gaze didn't go beyond the room. He fixated on the control console ahead of him and remembered.

It was where he used to work.

His Liege would sit where he sat now. Soundwave used to be able to feel his intense gaze burning into his plating. Such a thrill. He missed it.

Sometimes, when Starscream finished whining and left and Megatron dismissed the Vehicons Soundwave would take his deserved break and turn.

Megatron would still be watching him lazily. Eyes roaming. Soundwave always relished the rewards that came next.

Laserbeak stirred when he felt Soundwave's ventilations hitch suddenly and his previously inactive energy field gradual began to roil.

No one ever suspected Soundwave was capable of anything other than his duties and that's what made the affair divine. It was a secret.

Sometimes he'd cross the room. Other times, Megatron would come to him.

Soundwave's spindly fingers drifted from Laserbeak... and made small caresses to his own frame. The trickles of warming charge began to pool near synapses and build.

Soundwave had an imagination and it would do him credit tonight.

From beyond the bridge there was a crash.

Narrow fingers quickly retracted from sensitive seams.

Laserbeak squawked and fluttered into the air above Soundwave.

His scanners were worthless. They'd have to investigate.

With his needs shelved until later Soundwave rose and left the bridge with Laserbeak humming nearby.

They separated at a junction. Soundwave's search took him culprits.

Autobots. How very unsurprising.

It was what they were doing that work him into a frenzy of the wrong sort. First there was anger but then, as he lingered...

"What's wrong?" Asked Bulkhead when Arcee pulled back from him suddenly. Before then she seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Acree shook herself.

"Nothing." She gasped, as she continued to move with him, "I just..." There was that feeling again. A creepy - crawly sensation that tickled her shoulder armor. It moved down her external vertebrae and she stopped moving completely. Bulkhead looked concerned ... and maybe a little disappointed, "Uh it's nothing. I just feel ... this place has eyes y'know?"

A deep chuckle rumbled his chassis,

"That's never bothered you before."

"I know but can we just ... go."

Bulkhead sighed,

"Alright."

They rose together, off the bed of crates they'd expertly pushed together.

Soundwave watched Arcee's curves drift away. His extended data cables wistfully floating after her dainty physique. There was nothing about the bulbous mech that interested him... but between their larger frames Soundwave was sure femme would put on a good show.

Arcee jolted again as she felt a phantom touch across her aft. She turned sharply and glowered at the vacant space behind them.

She scoffed.

"Come on! Magnus has got me running extra calibration tests on the ground bridge network tomorrow. Got to be thorough he says. He wants me there early."

Soundwave audios reset and he dared to hope.

* * *

A ground bridge central hub. The Autobots had done it, they'd built his salvation. He could feel the energy of the multiple event horizons crackle along his frame and see the reality of his subspace world wane.

Oh, what a shock it would be for them, when he came crashing back into their universe. His only regret was that the human children weren't present to witness his return. He'd have to greet them personally. He'd say hello as he pulled their intestines out of their mouths. After that who knows, if he was feeling extravagant, maybe he'd put them in the Shadowzone.

Acree, Bulkhead and the stern Ultra Magnus pondered the EM readings. Soundwave walked right past them.

Laserbeak clung to his chest extra tightly. With this many ground bridges burning brightly and so close to each other Soundwave thought he couldn't fail as he lined himself up with the vortex central to the cluster of five bridges.

Weapon armatures whirled into life and his fingers tightened into fists. He was going to be ready for whatever awaited him the other side.

...It was Optimus Prime.

When the violent tempest of green and white light faded he saw the Autobot leader.

Optimus looked up, scowling.

Sensing imminent attack Soundwave engaged. A pulse of energy shot from his mounted cannon. It caught the Autobot leader by surprise. He was too dumbfounded to protect himself ... or even react.

Hope had failed Soundwave.

The plasma discharge barreled straight through the Autobot leader and fizzled into nothingness.

Soundwave's shoulders sagged and he regarded his hands.

"Negative, Sir. We have yet to send anybody through the singularity." Ultra Magnus's voice crackled through a communications station. Optimus Prime glared through Soundwave's ghostly frame.

"I have received conclusive information to suggest an entity transversed the rift successfully."

"Do you see anything?"

"No."

Standing over the console relaying these anomalous readings was Bumblebee. The minibot looked to his leader and shrugged.

"Sir, we received the same readings but can confirm that nothing went through on our end." Acree's voice echoed round the room.

Unable to offer an explanation Optimus shook his head.

"Shut down the bridges for now and recalibrate. We'll try again later."

And just like that the bridge behind Soundwave collapsed and with it his optimism of finding a solution.

* * *

They were a long way from the Nemesis now. The secondary base Soundwave had travelled to was isolated by more wasteland. The same kind of nothingness he'd transversed daily on the other side of the planet. Now, his gyros were really beginning to feel the strain. As he stomped along he sounded like a rubbish compactor: grating, grinding GAK!-

Soundwave's left knee joint gave way.

He fell without warning, the weight of his entire frame landing heavily on one wrist, crushing the weak sockets.

Ventilations expelled wafts of dust.

His HUD filled with red. Damage reports attempted to correlate data. What was forwarded to is attention was nonsense. Even the source of the injury was misinterpreted. But Soundwave could see the damage.

A supportive plate in his knee joint had buckled and sprung loose. In the fall the thin metal plate became jammed between two cogs supposed to work in tandem to stimulate movement.

With no tools at his disposal all Soundwave could to to fix the issue was attempt to dislodge the obstruction with his own hands. One hand now sufficiently weaker than the other. Grasping the bent end of the plate and pulling on it sharply did nothing to help.

The plate snapped in his hands, half of it remained lodged between his knee joint.

He sat in the dirt, briefly moping. Wishing for help or at least the means of fixing himself. A silly, useless waste of time.

Standing took some time. He needed assistance. Laserbeak did its best to lift him but the drone was too fragile to support him for long. Struggling onward like this was a waste of both their resources.

It was more appropriate for Soundwave to rest and let Laserbeak scout ahead.

He seated himself, the motion making unhealthy crunching sounds.

In solitude, Soundwave tried to distract himself by thinking up new ways to free them from the Shadowzone. He needed occupation. His fingers twitched, hunting for the keys on the control consoles he used to manage.

But there was nothing. Just loneliness, for now, until Laserbeak came back to him. Until then Soundwave just had hunger's nagging for companionship. Over the weeks it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

* * *

Laserbeak found a suitable crutch to aid his master across the rough terrain. Soundwave was pleased with him. He felt good. He knew he'd done well. But where was his reward? Soundwave always showered him with treats and praise. Right now Laserbeak just wanted food. Why was his master denying him? He'd done well.

_Please._

_Please!_

He was met with solid refusal.

The little drone wilted.

* * *

Where to go next? Soundwave desperately needed direction. Orders were integral to him. Now he didn't know what to do. He lacked routine and a day without structure was a day wasted.

Laserbeak pestered him incessantly for energon. Would the drone have him bleed it out of his veins and suckle on the wound for nourishment like organic offspring?

Needy pangs eventually greatened into something more dire and panic started filling their bond. It slowed them down and made Soundwave lose concentration.

It was difficult to keep annoyance from intermingling with the feelings of comfort Soundwave was attempting to force through the open channel they shared. Lack of fuel was confusing the drone's processor and its inability to understand their dilemma fretted the drone.

Laserbeak unlocked from his chest plate when Soundwave had ordered him not to.  
Again.

He held the drone in place. When its movement was restricted Laserbeak began to struggle and no amount of orders or forced feelings of reassurance could calm the little creature.

It was begging him for food, but now that need was secondary to the desire for flight, because Soundwave was making it feel trapped against his chassis.

Didn't it know that flying would expend more energy?

With one final, concentrated push Laserbeak escaped Soundwave.

It drifted high into the sky and their bond was flooded with relief. Soundwave only felt irritation. He ordered the drone back. It ignored him.

The lack of control stung Soundwave.

When Laserbeak started to glide further away Soundwave found he couldn't keep up. He dragged his leg like a maimed animal.

Laserbeak's hunger was overtaking Soundwave's influence. He flew higher, continued to journey further.

Orders transferred through the bond were hopeless.

Then, the bubbling anger in Soundwave erupted. Worry and frustration spilled out.

"Desist!"

Words made him aware of how raw his throat tubing had become.

He'd exhausted his last means of deterring his rebellious pet.

He was ignored.

And in their wasted bond all remained was fear, confusion and above all else - hunger.

* * *

The day was hot. Soundwave slowly pursued Laserbeak, heading toward a derelict city. He'd lost visual contact, all they had left was their bond.

Steadily Soundwave eased his way through the dirt. A harsh wind spat grit at his aching plating. Without his crutch he would fall.

On his journey he came across a carcass. And then another. Insecticons, dozens of them, all littered across the wasteland, half buried in the dunes, suck dry of vital fluids.

Arachnid.

Behind the mask serrated denta interlocked and a hiss rolled back his lips.

At last he had a face onto which he could fasten his myriad of bad feelings.

The sun burned into him, boiling the anger in veins.

Hot and hungry and so full of hate, Soundwave trudged on curling his fists over and over wanting something to hit.

He tried to quash the feeling but it was difficult. He was so weak, his will power was exhausted.

The self centered glitch had robbed Megatron of his victory. It was her fault. Her _fault_.

Ventilations got heavy. Composure was slipping. Soundwave didn't feel like himself and it frightened him. He wanted to hurt.

So caught up in his emotions and oblivious to everything else he neglected controlling the bond. Filters he normally regulated had been broken through. Underneath of his murderous anger he felt a swirling pocket of terror. Terror that didn't belong to him.

Laserbeak.

He'd pushed the drone further away with his embarrassing lack of control.

It was his mistake.

The first time he'd ever made that mistake.

_He was slipping._

NO!

Megatron wouldn't accept failure. But Soundwave's fear of rejection was redundant. Megatron was dead. He had no power over Soundwave anymore. Soundwave had nothing to prove to anyone. Soundwave's existence, his every feeling revolved around a cause that had perished. Soundwave was redundant.

A pang of hunger pained his abdomen.

He had to stop.

Recharge would help.

But he couldn't recharge here. Not surrounded by grotesque shells of half cannibalized insecticons. He couldn't...he couldn't.

...But Soundwave was already on his knees. Too weak to resist. He curled on the ground.

In front of him was a detached head. Neck tubing and vertebrae splayed messily through the sand. Soundwave stared into dead optics.

No!

He was stronger than this.

Soundwave did not achieve his rank by lying down in the middle of the day.

He would not give in.

_Laserbeak, return_!

* * *

A burst of pain jerked Soundwave awake.

Laserbeak's pain.

His drone was in trouble.

Soundwave didn't think. Fear chocked out rationality. Before he could consider an alternative he was shaking the grit out of his gears as his T-Cog mobilized.

He had to find Laserbeak. Through their bond the little drone was screaming. Soundwave could focus on nothing else.

With a terrible grinding motion Soundwave launched into the air. Sharp edges forced into place during mid flight. He thundered toward the derelict city. Their bond growing in strength as the distance separating them shrank.

Soundwave had been too rash.

Transforming was dangerous. His alt-mode sapped him of his strength.

As soon as he entered the cityscape, warnings blared at him, beseeching an emergency landing. But Laserbeak was close and Soundwave weaved round half-formed constructions, homing in rapidly on the frantic signal.

Then the power to his turbines cut.

His momentum spluttered to a halt.

He was falling.

Spinning.

Wildly out of control and totally helpless.

Proximity alert. Impact warning. Immediate course change recommended.

Too late.

Nothing to save him.

Soundwave clipped the side of a building. The jagged concrete sheered a wing off.

The screech of metal echoed through the dead streets.

The crash was spectacular.

Rubble smattered the ground ahead of him before Soundwave's nose crashed and bent.

He bounced.

Transformed!

Arms and legs flailing, Soundwave tried to catch himself.  
He skidded, paint peeled off, scratches carved so deep they could never be buffed away.

Then he stopped.

And breathed.

And waited for the mayhem around him to settle, and for the plumes of hazy grey to lift from the sky and for ... oh no.

Slowly...very slowly, he fingered the gaping hole where part of his visor was missing. The glass shattered and sprinkled on his face.

Ruined.

The exposure alarmed him. But no one was around to see. So it didn't matter. What he looked like didn't matter. His state of maintenance didn't matter either. The fact that he was disheveled, nearly as derelict as the buildings he'd smashed into didn't appall anyone because no one could see him!

Gasping, Soundwave wrenched himself out of the debris.

Masses of feeling from Laserbeak still inundated his processor. The drone was close. So close Soundwave could crawl to him.

And crawl he did, until he found the little drone. Damaged,

Laserbeak fluttered weakly. One wing was crumpled and useless and a deep gash split fuel lines at the wing joint.

In their situation it was irreparable damage.

The pain relayed to him numbed Soundwave. A hollowness eviscerated is innards and pulped them.

He knelt behind the drone. Watching it suffer.

Laserbeak would continue to suffer, until he bled dry and then...and then ... Soundwave would truly be alone.

It was all beyond his control.

Soundwave gingerly reached out to the drone, pushing forward feelings of support. He was there, at his side, everything was going to be okay.

Laserbeak's fluttering lessened. He received Soundwave's soothing impulses.

Maybe now he'd be offered food?

With that the link closed down tightly.

Laserbeak waited. Alone. Cut off from his master's thoughts.

Soundwave was the recipient of a one way bond.

The finality of of Laserbeak's condition soured his spark...the sight of energon...warm energon oozing out the laceration along the drone's shoulder intensified his hunger.

* * *

_Master is here._

_Safe. _

Soundwave's warm presence teetered over Laserbeak. Smooth fingers pampered the seams in its plating. Gently, gently and relax.

Laserbeak hummed.

Soundwave's ventilations shook.

Oral lubricant readily emulsified his glossa.

Soundwave continued to stroke the little drone, easing his way up to Laserbeak's neck.

By now the drone was very still.

Laserbeak fished into their bond.

Nothing.

Soundwave heard his pleas and didn't respond.

Panic stirred again in the small being.

Plating started to rattle.

Soundwave's spark twisted.

He couldn't drag it out anymore.

His free hand applied gentle pressure to the creature's middle.

_Please, please? _

_Are you there?_

With precision and suddenness Soundwave's hand closed round Laserbeak's neck.

And pulled...and ripped.

Wave after wave struck him. Tsunami tides of horror and panic and pain but more than anything confusion.

And then they stopped as abruptly as they'd washed over him.

Soundwave bowed over the dead drone. An important piece of his pet still grasped in his right hand.

He stalled. Optics bulging beyond their sockets.

Anguish; he'd never know it like this.

It didn't go away. Not matter how hard he screamed.

Aboard the Nemesis. Other's shied away from him because he was quiet, they wouldn't call him quiet ever again if they heard him now.

But what made it worse was that he needed to act.

Vital fluids were escaping from the fresh wound, they dripped down Laserbeak's form and became sullied in the dirt.

Instinct took over; Guided his exposed lips to the oozing flow of energon and he drank. Gulping down huge mouthfuls until his true self recognised how he was behaving.

Then he gagged, violently, but cupped a hand across his mouth, trapping it all inside his oral cavity until he was prepared to swallow it down again along with his bitter morality.

He didn't think of how his drone tasted. That never registered, he sucked out the last droplets of energon from Laserbeak's. He'd had barely enough to replenish one third of his reserves.

Frag! PRIMUS, FRAG!

He hated himself. Deeply.

He wanted to rip out his optics. Turn himself inside out. To hurt the way he made Laserbeak hurt. The drone trusted him. He was its protector.

Soundwave raked his blunt fingers down his face, they scrapped against the jagged shards of his broken visor, and moaned allowed.

For what he'd done, he hoped never to feel satisfied again in his life.

* * *

Soundwave kept his right hand closed.  
Little lights started turning on the city. From all over the galaxy Cybertronians were returning and rebuilding their homes.

How pretty.

At once, Soundwave abandoned the city.

Too many people, walking past him, walking through him.

Where to go? Where to go?

It was a big world.

A world so big and yet...out of all the monstrosities he could have come across, he had to hobble into her.

Arachnid.

She was perched atop of a mound she'd stacked herself. The corpses of her insecticon army.

What a waste.

They'd have served the Decepticon cause better.

She was larger than he remembered, Soundwave took note of this as he clambered up her mountain. Apparently, she'd been making fixtures out of her favourite meals by attaching prized body parts to her armour.

Grotesque, gluttonous creature. Soundwave hovered above her hefty frame as she picked apart an insecticon husk searching for morsels. And here he was half starved.

He blamed her. He really, really did.

She was supposed to be true to Megatron. All Decepticons were. Because Megatron had a vision for them, a place for everyone and a plan Soundwave believed in whole-heartedly and Arachnid had ripped it away.

Spoiled it all.

Did she realise? No! She was too busy cramming scraps into her ravenous maw.

Still... she was the first sentient being Soundwave recognised in a long while. Somewhere along the way, his deprived state confused his hate with something else.

The way her body swayed snared him.

Data cables extended, his energy field crackled manically at the thought of all the terrible things he could subject her to and how much gratification it would give him to do so.

It was a ill-mind parody of the respect he held for his Liege.

No, he refused to make Megatron a part of this absorption. This was about Soundwave and the torturous fantasies he'd never have the opportunity to inflict.

Reaching out he raked his fingers on his left hand along her lower back and aft. He imagined the shriek of rent metal, the sight of bleeding vital fluids.

A data cable wound round her neck and he'd squeeze and squeeze until she squirmed against him and then he'd take her, roughly, until internal components bled and if she had any life left in her after that he'd do it again and again until her spark gave its final pluse! He'd make her suffer, make her cry and beg and-

Oh Primus.

Was this him?

Soundwave stumbled half way down the insecticon pile. Data cables falling limp and his charge took a dive into oblivion.

He'd never been cruel before.

Not unnecessarily so.

Disorientated, he dragged himself to the top of the pile, this time seeking consolation.

He hated her, he really, really hated her...but

"_Please_." He croaked, "Please look at me. I'm...I'm right here."

Again, his arms stretched out, instead of satisfying himself with her undoing he hoped only for interaction. His fingers passed through her dermis. A sob constricted his vocaliser, "Just look at me, please."

Arachnid turned the insecticon body part over in her hands and deemed it spent of allresources. She shuffled onward, dragging her expansive self through the dismembered parts.

"N-no. Please, come back I, please, look LOOK AT ME YOU GLITCH!" He staggered ahead of her, ruined knee cap leaking, and spread his arms.

She passed through him, lugging all her extra pieces with her.

That day Soundwave didn't only lose his strength.

* * *

Ratchet's face was a welcome sight to Optimus. A year had passed since they'd left earth to restore their home world and a call wishing a happy anniversary was in order.

Despite their well established land base Optimus had chosen to make the call from Nemesis, aboard Megatron's bridge no less. Perhaps it was poor behaviour but the Prime enjoyed the spoils of their victory over Megatron. The Nemesis was truly a remarkable ship.

He stood at the ship's helm staring up at Ratchet's face stretched across the monitor overlooking the room and they exchanged pleasantries, gratuitously patting each other on the back for a job well done until Ratchet homed in on something strange across the room.

"Do you see that?" He asked, referring the abnormal cluster of static curled on the floor next to Megatron's throne, growing up the side of the chair and spreading itself across the arm rest.

Optimus turned but saw nothing.

"There!" Ratchet pressed, "Next to the chair."

"I believe you are imagining things old friend."

"I most certainly am not, it's moving."

It might have been the camera picking up on strange electrical outputs Optimus's optics couldn't detect.

After fiddling around with the fine tuning of the camera Ratchet gasped.

Optimus Prime's battle mask snapped into position,

"I see him."

Cannon armatures readied themselves and following the camera's guidance Optimus advanced on the disbanded Decepticon faction's former communications officer.

"He's still in the Shadowzone," Ratchet announced, "He cannot harm you."

That may have been so but it pained the Prime to see not a Decepticon, but a Cybertronian, harming himself.

Mindlessly Soundwave repeatedly dashed his helm against the sharp edge of Megatron's armrest. Although he could not hear the endless moan Soundwave was emitting like a wavering hum, Optimus Prime took pity of the derelict mech.

"Soundwave." He said in his deep, placid voice. It rumbled right through Soundwave's frame just like...

Slowly, because disjointed limbs ached, Soundwave twisted his helm. Through what was left of his visor and cracked, blurry optics Soundwave stared vacantly at a shape he distantly remembered,  
"I see you." Said a powerful, inspiring voice.

Soundwave's systems hiccuped.

No, it couldn't be true.

But he was so tired...it couldn't hurt to dream, could it, Laserbeak?

The tight grasp of his right hand slackened, fingers uncurled round the little drone's head.

After all this time, was this his Lord finally coming home to him?

**End**


	2. Note

Hi, sorry, not another chapter just a rant. I'm very annoyed at myself, when I posted the vic last night I didn't notice that all the "breaks" in between the text had vanished. For those of you who don't know a break on FF . net looks like this...

* * *

Only I was favouring the asterisks to provide the same purpose.

Breaks were VERY important to this story because they separated the mammoth amount of text and in some instances indicated the passage of time. So I was highly displeased when they just decided to hop of the document. Never mind, done now, fixed now.

If you like, read the fic again with the now enhanced chapter breaks.

Enjoy!...Or don't enjoy, whatever, it's not up to me to order you about.


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